EMERGENCY ALERT REACHED SOME WRONG PHONES, OFFICIALS SAY

Emergency Alert Reached Some Wrong Phones, Officials Say

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say an emergency alert mistakenly was sent to some wireless phones in eastern Iowa and Polk County.

The message sent around 7:30 p.m. Monday read, “Civil Emergency in this area until 8:45 p.m. EDT” and “Take Shelter Now Polk-County.”

But there was no emergency.

A news release from Johnson County Emergency Management says the message was supposed to be a follow-up on a missing person from Johnson County. The message system vendor is investigating how and why the erroneous message was sent and how it reached Polk County towers.